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Information About

Wien Air Alaska




The airline was started in 1927 by Noel Wien in Nome, Alaska , but traces its roots back to Noel's 1924 to 1926 flights out of Fairbanks with Bennett Rodebaugh 's Fairbanks Airplane company which was later absorbed into Wien Alaska Airways. Wien Air Alaska at one time flew to more places in the world than any other airline excluding Aeroflot . By the early 1980s their route network extended from Point Barrow and dozens of Alaskan towns all the way down to Phoenix , Oakland , and Denver . Their main bases were in Anchorage and Seattle .

Before Wien Air folded in 1985, they were known as the second oldest airline in the U.S.


AIRCRAFT OPERATED


1920s:
  • Standard J-1

  • Fokker F.III (operated by Noel Wien at the Fairbanks Airplane Company)

  • Stearman C3

  • Stinson SB-1 "Detroiter" (the 1926 biplane version of the Detroiter)

  • Hamilton Metal Plane


1930s:

1940s:

1950s:
  • Douglas DC-3

  • Curtis C-46

  • Noorduyn Norseman

  • Cessna 170, 180, 195

  • Beech 18


1960s and 1970s
  • Cessna 185

  • DeHavilland Beaver

  • Beech 18

  • Pilatus PC-6 Porter

  • Douglas DC-4

  • Locheed L-749 Constellation

  • deHavilland Twin Otter

  • Fairchild C-82

  • Douglas DC-3

  • Curtis C-46

  • Shorts Skyvan

  • Fairchild/Fokker F-27

  • Boeing 737 (One of the first U.S. operators starting in May of 1967 with aircraft N461GB)


1980s:
  • Boeing 737

  • Boeing 727

  • McDonnell Douglas DC-8 Freighter (contract for UPS)



NAME HISTORY


  • Wien Alaska Airways 1927-1930

  • Northern Air Transport 1930

  • Wien Alaska Airways 1930-194?

  • Wien Alaska Airlines 194?-196?

  • Wien Air Alaska 196?-April 1968

  • Wien Consolidated April 1968-1974

  • Wien Air Alaska 1974 -1984

  • Wien Airlines 1985


The airline was purchased in 1981 by the company's current president, Jim J. Flood, who oversaw its liquidation November 23, 1984, earning Flood a sizeable profit and resulting in more than 1500 jobs lost.


SOURCES

  • Ira B. Harkey, ''Noel Wien - Pioneer Alaska Bush Pilot'', and discussions in 2005 with Merrill and Richard Wien, sons of the founder.